Willaim had noticed the fog by his left hand side was parting in two but he felt no wind from that direction, so he suspected this was intentional, a by-product of the game.
'Could it be the next challenge'
The fog dissipated and left him with somewhat of a far less exciting scenario than he had anticipated.
It was just the same set up like the one he was standing on, muddy floor, another exit out of the tunnels and a treasure chest a few feet from it, with two large horns.
William heard a couple footsteps, he turned to the old man and said, "Someone's coming."
William quickly glanced down at the box and saw the rifle wasn't there anymore he turned back to the exit and saw the force field over it die.
Then he saw the red haired girl walk out of the tunnel.
"You!" William said as he recognized her, instantly she looked at him with a smile on her face, they shared a glance that lasted until Ingrid walked out of the tunnel.
Ingrid saw him and immediately, her face softened and blushed, she hurried up to him and said, "you survived!? How about my brother?"
William shook his head and said, "I'm sorry I couldn't keep track of him.."
"Well that's just great, it's your fault you know, if you hadn't tripped, he'd still be here."
The rest of the party came off the tunnel as they spoke and the redhead walked off to the chest.
William couldn't tell but the fog behind him was starting to part as well. William let out a deep sigh, he felt the pain of it more than she would believe.
She had a bit of tear in her eye and held it back as much as she could, her jaw was toned and her cheeks were red.
"You'll pay for this,"she said.
"What?"
"I said you'll have to pay."
"I don't understand."
Her soft face turned vicious and angry and just when the force fields of the exit behind him faded.
"One way or the other, you'll pay."
Willaim felt the fire in her words, she meant every bit of it. "What do you mean by pay?"
"A life for a life, dumbass."
"What!" Willaim screamed. "Are you sure you're alright lady?"
"I'm not quite sure what's going on," the old man broke into the conversation, "but a life for a life? Don't you think that's quite archaic."
She dropped her head and said, "I don't, besides this isn't how he would have wanted it….. you know what?"
She grumbled like she didn't want to say it. "You can pay in installment."
"What! ? Now I'm very confused." The old man shook his head and said, "I see where she is going with this."
"And where might that be?" Willaim asked.
"You won't like it!"
"You'll pay me a thousand hours for all the grief you've cost me plus an extra two thousand for his funeral."
"What? What's she talking about pops?"
"Well you can pass time on to others?"
"Like transfer?" William asked.
"Yes."
"I might be the only one still not a hundred percent sure how all this works."
Willaim had sensed her vain opportunistic nature. No way she was just any normal girl, no even by a long shot
Suddenly she gasped and William saw the blush drain from her face and her expression turned cold.
"Hey ingrid!"
Willaim heard a familiar voice calling from behind him. He turned and saw Nod standing right outside the exit of a tunnel with a creeping looking green haired man in front of him.
Nod stood with a smile like a gentleman as he walked towards them and Ingrid quickly wore a smile.
"How are you suster? I see you're already doing business, as always."
"I'm fine," she muttered.
He turned to William and said, "Good to see you made it out, you had me worried." They shook hands and william smiled and said.
"I'm sorry I tripped you over." then Nod laughed and said.
"It's all in the past now, at least until I screw up, then I can bring it back as a trade off to even out our screw ups."
"Deal."
Nod stopped and looked around for someone else. William couldtell by the look on his face but he wondered who it could be then it struck him like a bolt of lightning.
"Where's the other fella?" Nod said. "The one we met you with?"
"Ben!"
William turned to Ingrid. She saw all their eyes on her and felt the sudden need to defend herself.
"I don't know what happened to him," she said with an emotionless expression on her face. "He was far behind me, he must have been caught up in the stream or maybe like you, he tripped."
They heard footsteps coming from behind her, from the same tunnel her and the group had taken. She turned and said,
"There, that's gotta be him."
They watched in anticipation, one step at a time. At first they saw his hand and the scars on them, no, the hand looked quite large and strong and William felt trouble at the pit of his stomach.
When the man came out of the tunnel, their eyes dropped in disappointment, even ingrid who had no care for him seemed disappointed too.
"Weren't you with Ben," she asked the man who had Just stepped outside the tunnel. He shook his head and said no. Ingrid said nothing, she had her suspicions but felt Ben would be a waste of her time.
William stared at him and for a brief moment the man that had strangled Ben looked at him and William noticed his eyes waver hesitantly and he had a gut feeling there was more to it than that.
Nod touched him on the shoulder and said. "I'm sorry about your friend." Willaim gestured with his head towards the back back
"You better go get your price," he said. "It's in the treasure chest."
Nod shook his head and left them. William could see more and more exits coming into view as the fog continued to move away.
'Maybe Ben's amongst those people over there,' he thought. 'There's a good chance he is.'
"Hey," the old man called out to him. "How about we split the grenades evenly."
William smiled and said, "what other way would we do it?
"Ten hours!?"
William turned to his left as he heard a vicious outburst, it was that man again and this time he was screaming at the red head.
"What do you mean you're taking it all?"
"It's only fair," she said effortlessly, "you don't think my services are free do you? I led you all out, with a little initial help for the old man of course but I have a feeling he's already been rewarded, so all of it stays with me? The rest of the loot is your, you can keep it."
"Why you little ... .I don't care about the damn thing you just said but if you don't want to give it to me then I'll just take it myself."
"No matter what you do, you'll get nothing from me."
Before the final word left her lips he already had his hand around her throat
"Hey stop it!" One of the members of their group screamed. "Stop it already."
"Is he out of his mind!?" the old man said. "What a brute.Damn It! if only I was a lot younger I'd….."
William dashed in and before the old man could finish, he was already running with the express intent of kicking the hell out of the man.